How to Prevent Coronavirus Contamination in Food and Beverage Production?

The new type of coronavirus belongs to the family of coronaviruses. It is much smaller in size than bacteria. It is round or oval in particle shape, with a diameter of about 0.12 micron. It is sensitive to ultraviolet rays, heat and 75% alcohol, ether, formaldehyde, and chlorine-containing disinfectant. The main ways of food and beverage contamination are process water, gas/air, packaging materials and production personnel. Let us take a look at how to prevent food and beverage contamination from these aspects.

Improve the Filtration Efficiency of Process Water

Food and beverage water mainly comes from municipal water and well water. Before the water is used in food and beverage production, a filter system will be designed to filter the incoming water according to different production processes and requirements. The process water used to directly contact the product or clean the equipment directly touches the product will generally be filtered through a filtration system composed of sanitary SUS316 filter housings and hydrophilic PES pleated filters of 0.2 micron. In order to better prevent the contamination of the new coronavirus, we can install Hydrophilic PES Pleated Filters of 0.1 micron afterwards.

Improve Gas/Air Filtration Efficiency

In the food and beverage production process, air or gas may contain particles, bacteria, viruses and other pollutants. Therefore, the air or gas used in the production of food and beverages will be filtered by installing a filter system, which is usually composed of sanitary SUS316 filter housings and hydrophobic PTFE pleated filters of 0.2 micron. Since the diameter of the new coronavirus is about 0.12 microns, the filtration system with a filtration accuracy of 0.2 microns can not retain the virus well, so in order to better retain the coronavirus, Hydrophobic PTFE Pleated Filters with 0.1 micron can be installed later.

Improve the Disinfection Standards of Packaging Materials

Packaging materials may be contaminated by coronavirus during production and transportation, and food and beverage can not be directly packaged. Because the new coronavirus is sensitive to ultraviolet rays, heat, and chlorine-containing disinfectants, it is necessary to perform sanitation, ultraviolet or steam treatments on each batch of packaging materials.

Operate Strictly in Accordance with Standard Specifications

Food or beverages may also be contaminated by production personnel carrying the virus during the production process. In order to better prevent food and beverages from being contaminated by virus, production personnel must strengthen self-health monitoring and operate in strict accordance with food and beverage production and management measures and standards.